Telling employees that they matter can feel stuffy.
But it’s become a crucial talent strategy to train leaders and managers on the skills that help employees feel like they matter, according to Zach Mercurio, leadership researcher and author of The Power of Mattering: How Leaders Can Create a Culture of Significance.
Mercurio chatted with HR Brew about his book and why a mattering strategy matters to people pros.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
We chatted about leadership lessons in your book The Invisible Leader last year. What new ideas did you bring into this book?
My first book was about the power of purpose, which is our contribution and knowing our use and usefulness, but it’s very difficult for someone to see their contribution if they don’t first believe they’re worthy of contributing, so I almost see this book, The Power of Mattering, as the prequel.
This is a book about how do you create an environment where the people around you actually feel worthy of contributing, and making sure that people feel valued, and then know how they add value, that they feel seen, and that they feel heard, and that they feel needed…In psychology, that name of that feeling…is called mattering, and it’s a distinct concept that can only be generated through interpersonal interactions.
Why should HR prioritize this?
There are several things that are happening that all point to a mattering deficit. One of those things is this idea of disengagement. As Gallup reported in January of this year, engagement is at its lowest rate in a decade, and that’s despite millions of dollars being spent on engagement over the last decade….Almost 40% of people in that sample from Gallup indicated they didn’t think anybody at work cared for them as a person.
Another symptom of this mattering deficit is workplace loneliness. Almost eight out of 10 people indicate that they feel lonely at work, but this is, again, despite connecting more…We’re actually communicating more than ever, but we’re still lonely. One of the things that we’re missing is that, when you look at the research on loneliness, it’s not the quantity of interaction that matters, it’s the quality…It’s feeling seen, and heard, valued, and needed, feeling that we matter.
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What we’re seeing is not a disengagement crisis, not a loneliness epidemic, it’s really at its core a mattering deficit. People feel insignificant in their daily interactions, and you can’t solve that through more programs, perks, or platforms. You can only solve that through equipping people and leaders with the skills to show the person across from them how they’re significant to them.
How can HR help fix this?
What I would encourage HR leaders to do first is actually to do an audit of the skills that leaders are developing and being evaluated on that create the daily experience of feeling valued…For example, to pay attention and see a person, to conduct a meaningful check in, to actually create an environment where people feel that they can speak up, to listen deeply. Are [leaders] evaluated on and prepared to affirm people and show them the difference that they make and spot their strengths and cultivate those strengths?
These skills have been labeled as “soft”…When we see something as soft or simple, we tend to approach it with less rigor. So, if you think in an HR function, the rigor at which you approach compliance to certain policies and procedures, are you approaching the human skills and scaling the human skills so leaders can see, hear, value, and show people how they’re needed with the same rigor as you’re approaching compliance?
